--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I was born in Somerville, but I don't…" description: "\"I was born in Somerville, but I don't remember very much about it because we moved from there to Arlington when I was five years old, and it was in Arl..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba5/alan-hovhaness-31135_arlington_i-was-born-in-somerville-but-i-don-t-rem_1010710.png" --- # I was born in Somerville, but I don't remember very much… ![“I was born in Somerville, but I don't remember very much about it because we moved from there to Arlington when I was five years old, and it was in Arlington that I spent most of my childhood.” quote by Alan Hovhaness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba5/alan-hovhaness-31135_arlington_i-was-born-in-somerville-but-i-don-t-rem_1010710.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba5/alan-hovhaness-31135_arlington_i-was-born-in-somerville-but-i-don-t-rem_1010710.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba5/alan-hovhaness-31135_arlington_i-was-born-in-somerville-but-i-don-t-rem_1010710.png) > “I was born in Somerville, but I don't remember very much about it because we moved from there to Arlington when I was five years old, and it was in Arlington that I spent most of my childhood.” [Alan Hovhaness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-hovhaness/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The composer notes his early relocation, indicating that his formative years were spent in Arlington rather than his birthplace, shaping his identity. **In simple terms:** He grew up mostly in Arlington, not Somerville. Key Takeaway Recognize how early environments influence personal development. Themes identity memory place childhood influence Mood nostalgic thoughtful Type biographical reflective When to use this quote - family moves - educational choices - community involvement - creative inspiration Key Concepts migration cultural adaptation environmental impact Questions to Reflect On - How do early moves affect long‑term identity? - What role does place play in artistic expression? A Different Perspective The quote may understate the lasting impact of early childhood memories. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Arlington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arlington/) [Arlington Years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arlington-years-2193275/) [Born](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/born/) [Born Somerville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/born-somerville-2193274/) [Childhood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/childhood/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Five](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/five/) [Five years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/five-years/) [Moved](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moved/) [Moved Arlington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moved-arlington-2193272/) [Remember](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/remember/) [Spent Childhood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spent-childhood/) [Years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/years/) ## Related quotes > [I've used the Phoenix Centrifuge to replicate what the body's going to go through on the flight up. I've also done some gravity tests…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-branson/i-ve-used-the-phoenix-centrifuge-to-replicate-what-the-body-s-going/) [Richard Branson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-branson/) > [Your Dollar is your only Word, / The wrath of it your only fear. / You build it altars tall enough / To make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-arlington-robinson/your-dollar-is-your-only-word-the-wrath-of-it-your-only-fear-you/) [Edwin Arlington Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-arlington-robinson/) > [The world is a kind of spiritual kindergarten where millions of bewildered infants are trying to spell "God" with the wrong blocks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-arlington-robinson/the-world-is-a-kind-of-spiritual-kindergarten-where-millions-of/) [Edwin Arlington Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-arlington-robinson/) > [As president, Clinton sold burial plots in Arlington Cemetery and liberals shrugged it off. What really gets their goat is the autopen. Evidently, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-coulter/as-president-clinton-sold-burial-plots-in-arlington-cemetery-and/) [Ann Coulter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-coulter/) > [There's not a yes or no answer to that. We want to prepare as a team to be as good as we can be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-daniels/there-s-not-a-yes-or-no-answer-to-that-we-want-to-prepare-as-a-team/) [Jon Daniels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-daniels/) > [My childhood in Arlington, Va., a middle class suburb of Washington, was uneventful. Ours was a very intellectual family, and we were encouraged to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-gross/my-childhood-in-arlington-va-a-middle-class-suburb-of-washington-was/) [David Gross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-gross/) > [We want to add an American League pennant... and to bring the World Series to Arlington.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-hicks/we-want-to-add-an-american-league-pennant-and-to-bring-the-world/) [Tom Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-hicks/) > [“Don’t come all the way across town. There’s a Metro station right outside of Arlington. I’ll meet you there, all right?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/connie-willis/don-t-come-all-the-way-across-town-there-s-a-metro-station-right/) [Connie Willis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/connie-willis/) > [Their sacrifice was great, but not in vain. All Americans and every free nation on earth can trace their liberty to the white markers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-w-bush/their-sacrifice-was-great-but-not-in-vain-all-americans-and-every/) [George W. Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-w-bush/) > [In our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/in-our-sleep-pain-that-cannot-forget-falls-drop-by-drop-upon-the/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [I was reading Emily Dickinson and Edwin Arlington Robinson, but these weren't the poets that influenced me. I think Gwendolyn Brooks influenced me because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandra-cisneros/i-was-reading-emily-dickinson-and-edwin-arlington-robinson-but-these/) [Sandra Cisneros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandra-cisneros/) > [From my apartment in Arlington, I could see Washington. It was always nice to be near home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-p-jones/from-my-apartment-in-arlington-i-could-see-washington-it-was-always/) [Edward P. Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-p-jones/) > [Two kinds of gratitude: The sudden kind we feel for what we take; the larger kind we feel for what we give.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-arlington-robinson/two-kinds-of-gratitude-the-sudden-kind-we-feel-for-what-we-take-the/) [Edwin Arlington Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-arlington-robinson/) > [I spent much of my childhood on stations up north, loving that life and with many, many special memories, and so the country holds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gina-rinehart/i-spent-much-of-my-childhood-on-stations-up-north-loving-that-life/) [Gina Rinehart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gina-rinehart/) > [I spent my whole childhood wishing I were older and now I'm spending my adulthood wishing I were younger.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ricky-schroder/i-spent-my-whole-childhood-wishing-i-were-older-and-now-i-m-spending/) [Ricky Schroder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ricky-schroder/) ## More by Alan Hovhaness > [I think that of my 21 symphonies, each has its own place.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-hovhaness/i-think-that-of-my-21-symphonies-each-has-its-own-place/) [Alan Hovhaness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-hovhaness/) > [I found a greater identity with my own emotions in the Armenian culture as I grew older, as well as from the beginning, although…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-hovhaness/i-found-a-greater-identity-with-my-own-emotions-in-the-armenian/) [Alan Hovhaness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-hovhaness/) > [No, no, I didn't know him. He lost his mind around 1917 because of the tragedy of the Armenians.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-hovhaness/no-no-i-didn-t-know-him-he-lost-his-mind-around-1917-because-of-the/) [Alan Hovhaness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-hovhaness/) > [There is nothing like practice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-hovhaness/there-is-nothing-like-practice/) [Alan Hovhaness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-hovhaness/) > [I've always regarded nature as the clothing of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-hovhaness/i-ve-always-regarded-nature-as-the-clothing-of-god/) [Alan Hovhaness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-hovhaness/) > [There were periods when I sometimes made fires in a large, open fireplace that lasted about two weeks, which was how long it took…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-hovhaness/there-were-periods-when-i-sometimes-made-fires-in-a-large-open/) [Alan Hovhaness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-hovhaness/) > [The composer...joins Heaven and Earth with threads of sounds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-hovhaness/the-composer-joins-heaven-and-earth-with-threads-of-sounds/) [Alan Hovhaness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-hovhaness/) > [My purpose is to create music not for snobs, but for all people, music which is beautiful and healing. To attempt what old Chinese…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-hovhaness/my-purpose-is-to-create-music-not-for-snobs-but-for-all-people-music/) [Alan Hovhaness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-hovhaness/) > [This is not to say that the Scots are not fine people, but they were all sort of... well, my grandfather was a minister…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-hovhaness/this-is-not-to-say-that-the-scots-are-not-fine-people-but-they-were/) [Alan Hovhaness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-hovhaness/) > [I did all kinds of things in order to earn a living.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-hovhaness/i-did-all-kinds-of-things-in-order-to-earn-a-living/) [Alan Hovhaness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-hovhaness/) > [It's hard for me to think of others because I'm not particularly in sympathy with the music of this century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-hovhaness/it-s-hard-for-me-to-think-of-others-because-i-m-not-particularly-in/) [Alan Hovhaness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-hovhaness/) > [I was much more interested in the orchestra than the piano, but I did become fairly proficient as a pianist and my teachers felt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-hovhaness/i-was-much-more-interested-in-the-orchestra-than-the-piano-but-i-did/) [Alan Hovhaness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-hovhaness/) > [My mother's background was Scottish. She came from an old family, some of whom lived in upper New York State and some of whom…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-hovhaness/my-mother-s-background-was-scottish-she-came-from-an-old-family-some/) [Alan Hovhaness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-hovhaness/) > [The greater the emotional intensity, the greater the simplicity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-hovhaness/the-greater-the-emotional-intensity-the-greater-the-simplicity/) [Alan Hovhaness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-hovhaness/) > [To me, atonality is against nature. There is a center to everything that exists. The planets have the sun, the earth, the moon.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-hovhaness/to-me-atonality-is-against-nature-there-is-a-center-to-everything/) [Alan Hovhaness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-hovhaness/) [Explore all 16 Alan Hovhaness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-hovhaness/) ## More Arlington quotes > [I've used the Phoenix Centrifuge to replicate what the body's going to go through on the flight up. I've also done some gravity tests…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-branson/i-ve-used-the-phoenix-centrifuge-to-replicate-what-the-body-s-going/) [Richard Branson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-branson/) > [From my apartment in Arlington, I could see Washington. It was always nice to be near home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-p-jones/from-my-apartment-in-arlington-i-could-see-washington-it-was-always/) [Edward P. Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-p-jones/) > [I was reading Emily Dickinson and Edwin Arlington Robinson, but these weren't the poets that influenced me. I think Gwendolyn Brooks influenced me because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandra-cisneros/i-was-reading-emily-dickinson-and-edwin-arlington-robinson-but-these/) [Sandra Cisneros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandra-cisneros/) > [In our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/in-our-sleep-pain-that-cannot-forget-falls-drop-by-drop-upon-the/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [Their sacrifice was great, but not in vain. All Americans and every free nation on earth can trace their liberty to the white markers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-w-bush/their-sacrifice-was-great-but-not-in-vain-all-americans-and-every/) [George W. Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-w-bush/) > [“Don’t come all the way across town. There’s a Metro station right outside of Arlington. I’ll meet you there, all right?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/connie-willis/don-t-come-all-the-way-across-town-there-s-a-metro-station-right/) [Connie Willis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/connie-willis/) > [We want to add an American League pennant... and to bring the World Series to Arlington.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-hicks/we-want-to-add-an-american-league-pennant-and-to-bring-the-world/) [Tom Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-hicks/) > [My childhood in Arlington, Va., a middle class suburb of Washington, was uneventful. Ours was a very intellectual family, and we were encouraged to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-gross/my-childhood-in-arlington-va-a-middle-class-suburb-of-washington-was/) [David Gross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-gross/) > [There's not a yes or no answer to that. We want to prepare as a team to be as good as we can be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-daniels/there-s-not-a-yes-or-no-answer-to-that-we-want-to-prepare-as-a-team/) [Jon Daniels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-daniels/) > [As president, Clinton sold burial plots in Arlington Cemetery and liberals shrugged it off. What really gets their goat is the autopen. Evidently, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-coulter/as-president-clinton-sold-burial-plots-in-arlington-cemetery-and/) [Ann Coulter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-coulter/) > [The world is a kind of spiritual kindergarten where millions of bewildered infants are trying to spell "God" with the wrong blocks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-arlington-robinson/the-world-is-a-kind-of-spiritual-kindergarten-where-millions-of/) [Edwin Arlington Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-arlington-robinson/) > [Your Dollar is your only Word, / The wrath of it your only fear. / You build it altars tall enough / To make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-arlington-robinson/your-dollar-is-your-only-word-the-wrath-of-it-your-only-fear-you/) [Edwin Arlington Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-arlington-robinson/) > [Two kinds of gratitude: The sudden kind we feel for what we take; the larger kind we feel for what we give.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-arlington-robinson/two-kinds-of-gratitude-the-sudden-kind-we-feel-for-what-we-take-the/) [Edwin Arlington Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-arlington-robinson/) [Browse all 14 Arlington quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arlington/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I was born in Somerville, but I don't remember very much about it because we moved from there to Arlington when I was five years old, and it was in Arlington that I spent most of my childhood.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Alan Hovhaness" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-hovhaness/i-was-born-in-somerville-but-i-don-t-remember-very-much-about-it/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Arlington" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-hovhaness/i-was-born-in-somerville-but-i-don-t-remember-very-much-about-it/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba5/alan-hovhaness-31135_arlington_i-was-born-in-somerville-but-i-don-t-rem_1010710.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba5/alan-hovhaness-31135_arlington_i-was-born-in-somerville-but-i-don-t-rem_1010710.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba5/alan-hovhaness-31135_arlington_i-was-born-in-somerville-but-i-don-t-rem_1010710.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I was born in Somerville, but I don't remember very much about it because we moved from there to Arlington…” — Alan Hovhaness", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Alan Hovhaness", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-hovhaness/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I was born in Somerville, but...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-hovhaness/i-was-born-in-somerville-but-i-don-t-remember-very-much-about-it/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-hovhaness/i-was-born-in-somerville-but-i-don-t-remember-very-much-about-it/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```